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About 76% of patents filed in India over the past 13 years have been by foreigners residing outside the country. The number of Indian patents over the period have been steadily decreasing, but a majority of them are still courtesy foreign firms.
The data has been revealed in the Science & Technology Indicators (STI 2019-20) which was released by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) on August 24.
According to the STI 2019-20, 5.1 lakh patent applications were filed in the country between 2005-06 and 2017-18, with most coming from outside the country.
Of the total 5.1 lakh applications, nearly 1.4 lakh patent applications were from the US alone. The country accounted for about 27% of all applications over the 13-year period.
The number of patents from India has been steadily increasing, rising from 4,521 in 2005-06 to 15,550 in 2017-18. The corresponding figures for patents filed by foreigners and companies based abroad were 19,984 and 32,304.
Among Indian states, Maharashtra has the highest (3,820) number of patents in 2017-18, followed by Tamil Nadu (2,742) and Karnataka (2,022).
In Indian research and development organisations, the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) facilities have consistently been ahead of the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in filing patents.
Coming back to the foreign patents, Qualcomm Incorporated, the US-based telecommunications firm, has filed 6,960 patents in India over the past five years, followed by the Dutch firm Koninklijke Philips N.V, at 3,760 applications.
All tables are courtesy of Science & Technology Indicators (STI 2019-20).